Tag Archives: Sicilian wine

Mini-reviews 89: The Wine Curmudgeon has questions

Mini-reviews 89Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

This month, I have questions that the wines can’t answer.

• Tasca D’Almerita Lamùri 2014 ($18, sample, 13.5%): This Italian red offers about $10 worth of Sicilian nero d’avola at twice the price, and it‘s about as Sicilian as a Paso Robles red blend. My question: Why did I get it as part of a Sicilian wine promotion when it isn’t very Sicilian?

• Kono Sauvignon Blanc 2015 ($14, purchased, 13%): This New Zealand white offers $10 worth of Zealand sauvignon blanc and its citrus flavors at one-third more the price. My question: How could this vintage be so much less enjoyable than the 2012?

• Les Portes de Bordeaux Rose 2015 ($10, purchased, 12.5%): This French pink wine is not exceptional, but tastes like it should (freshness, red fruit) and is yet another reason why rose is always a good value. My question: How can this be, in the history of the blog, the first Trader Joe’s wine I can recommend?

• Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2015 ($10, purchased, 13%): A French red that was too tart and not very Beaujolais-ish, without any of the round and fruity flavors that should be there. My question: How can anyone at Jadot, one of the most important producers in France, think this is what this wine should taste like?

Father's day wine 2017

Father’s Day wine 2016

Father's Day wineHow do you decide how much to spend on a Father’s Day wine gift? Check out the cyber-ether, and one suggestion calls for $1,500? Which struck the Wine Curmudgeon as totally inappropriate – not because one shouldn’t spend a lot of money on Dad, but because how many dads would want their children to waste money like that?

Hence the blog’s annual Father’s Day wine post, in which we offer sensible, quality and well-priced wines to buy. Keep the blog’s wine gift-giving guidelines in mind throughout the process: Don’t buy someone wine that you think they should like; buy them what they will like.

This year’s Father’s Day wine suggestions:

• Feudo Zirtari Rosso 2012 ($12, sample, 13.5%): If all international style was made like this, the WC wouldn’t be nearly as cranky. The nero adds earthiness and dark plum, while the syrah makes it taste a little less Sicilian. Nicely done.

• Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2015 ($12, sample, 13%): More than a one-note New Zealand sauvignon blanc, and an example of what Big Wine can do when it wants to. Yes, citrus, but also some tropical in the middle and minerality on the back.

• La Fleur de Francois Rosé Brut NV ($16, sample, 12%): French sparkling wine from Bordeaux with lime and raspberry fruit, a clean and crisp finish, and an almost flowery aroma. More like cava than Champagne; no oak showing. Very well done.

• Conde Pinel Rose 2015 ($10, purchased, 12%): Yet another well crafted, solidly made Spanish rose (this time with tempranillo), complete with strawberry fruit, a little slate, and lots of crispness.

More Father’s Day wine:
• Father’s Day wine 2015
• Father’s Day wine 2014
• Wine of the week: Ontanon Rioja Viticultura Ecologica 2013

 

Mini-reviews 85: Eden Ridge, Campo Viejo, Bonny Doon, Planeta

campo viejoReviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

• Eden Ridge Chardonnay 2013 ($13, sample, 14.5%): This California white shows everything that is wrong-headed about premiumization – $7 or $8 worth of wine that costs one-third more. It’s hot, with an alcoholic tang; stemmy and bitter; doused with oak; and without all that much fruit.

• Campo Viejo Rioja 2014: ($10, purchased, 13%): Spanish red made with tempranillo that proves not all Spanish wine is a great value. It’s grocery store plonk that tastes about as Spanish as a glass of water, with sweet fruit and too much oak.

• Bonny Doon Gravitas 2014 ($16, purchased, 13.5%): Proper white Bordeaux channeled through California, so brighter citrus fruit, less flinty, and a little rounder, but still delicious. The difference between this wine and the first two is so vast that it’s difficult to put into words.

• Planeta Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2014 ($20, purchased, 13%): This red blend from one of my favorite Sicilian producers was sadly disappointing. Though it’s well made, with red fruit and some spice, there’s not enough going on for what it cost: Not complex enough, with almost no finish; not enough Sicilian dark fruit; and not earthy enough.

Wine of the week: Lamura Bianco Organica 2014

lamura biancoOrganic and natural wines, despite powerful support, have never gotten much attention from consumers. For one thing, it’s difficult to tell the difference between organic and conventional wines, and especially when it comes to quality. Fortunately, the Lamura Bianco, a white from Sicily made with catarratto, has been a consistent organic value for years.

The Lamura Bianco ($10, purchased, 12.5%) is made with organic grapes (which is different from an organic wine); the 2014 vintage, despite its age, shows why Lamura delivers outstanding quality and value almost annually. Look for lemon and tropical fruit in a wine that is crisp and fresh, and with all of that topped off with the minerality one expects from a wine that will pair perfectly with seafood.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2017 $10 Hall of Fame, with one caveat. Older vintages of the white (though not of the other Lamura, a red) don’t always age well, and can taste tired and worn out. I haven’t noticed a pattern to this, and it may be because the wine suffers during its Dallas supply chain experience. If that’s the case, then you won’t have a problem with it in other parts of the country.

Wine of the week: Colosi Sicilia Bianco 2013

Colosi Sicilia BiancoWhat better way to celebrate the blog’s eighth birthday than with a cheap Sicilian white wine made with three grapes no one has heard of? These are the days when it’s fun to be the Wine Curmudgeon.

The Colosi Sicilia Bianco ($10, purchased, 12%) is everything that I love about cheap wine, but that so many others don’t understand. It’s a light, simple, well-made, and refreshing wine, with green apple and lemon flavors, a bit of crispness in the back, and no oak. In this, it makes the point that sometimes all we need is a light, simple, well-made, and refreshing wine, whether to drink with dinner, to enjoy after work, or to sip on a weekend afternoon just because we want a glass of wine. Not every wine occasion has to be a big deal, and not every wine buying decision has to be as convoluted as purchasing a house.

The grapes, by the way, are inzolia, catarratto, and grillo (the latter of which I like almost as much as ugni blanc). Their combination gives the Colosi Sicilia Bianco a slightly chardonnay aroma, which is both surprising and not unwelcome. We don’t want U.S. wine consumers to be to turned off by a wine that has almost nothing in common with the stuff that Big Wine shovels at us in the grocery store, do we?

Wine of the week: Lamura Rosso 2013

Lamura RossoYears ago, before the hipsters discovered Sicily, Lamura was about the only Sicilian producer with any kind of distribution. And even Lamura hedged its bets, marketing the wine as organic as much as where it was from. Who knew about nero d’avola back then?

Still, the wine (as well as a Lamura white) was an excellent example of what Sicily could do. And nothing has changed since — the Lamura Rosso ($10, purchased, 13.2%), a red blend made with nero, remains focused on value and quality when so many others are more concerned with raising prices and making the wine taste like it came from some massive fruity and oaky barrel.

Look for cherry and black plum fruit (more than I expected, actually), but where the fruit is balanced by the Sicilian earthiness that I so enjoy. And, despite its age, the wine remains fresh and interesting, without any of the cloying fruit or ashy-tasting middle that shows up in red wines at this price.

Drink this on its own, and don’t be afraid to chill it slightly; it’s made for a warm summer days on the back porch And, of course, if you want to pair the Lamura Rosso, it will match with anything from burgers to bratwurst to red sauce.

Wine of the week: Cusumano Insolia 2012

Cusumano InsoliaThe Wine Curmudgeon, for all the chips on his shoulder, is always wiling to admit when he’s wrong. Hence another mea culpa for Cusumano, the Sicilian producer whose qualities I have doubted, and this time for its Inosolia white wine.

The Cusumano Insolia ($11, purchased, 12.5%) is made with the insolia grape, native to Sicily and mostly used to make marsala until the Sicilian wine revolution of the past decade. This is an unusual white grape, even for Sicily, and I’m not sure there’s a white quite like it anywhere else in the world — almost tannic, but also softer than chardonnay and crisper than viognier.

This vintage, which is apparently current despite its age, isn’t as long in the finish as when it was younger, but it still shows why Cusumano is one of the best producers on the island. Look for the qualities that make me so excited about Sicilian white wine — melon fruit, white pepper, an herbal aroma, and all in balance for a very fair price.

Drink this chilled, and pair it with grilled fish or chicken finished with olive oil and herbs. In this, one more reason why we don’t need to drink badly made chardonnay.